[0:08] Okay, it is uh 2:00 p.m.
We'll call the meeting today, Monday,
[0:16] August 24th
of the public property and law
[0:20] enforcement committee.
First order
[0:25] is uh roll call.
Marcus JMA
[0:29] » here.
>> Philip Livingston.
[0:35] Philip, are you online?
Okay. Lauren Negro.
[0:44] Lauren Negro.
>> Jim Schultz
[0:47] » here.
>> Paul Wilharm
[0:49] » here.
>> Thank you.
[0:55] Second is approval of the agenda.
>> Wilharm will make a motion to approve
[1:02] the agenda.
>> Second.
[1:05] » Motion has been made to approve and
seconded.
[1:10] Any discussion?
[1:14] All in favor? Say I.
Opposed.
[1:19] Motion carried.
Number three, public comment.
[1:25] And as stated,
[1:31] excuse me,
[1:35] for for public comment. All right.
Uh we're going to limit
[1:41] to three minutes per speaker
and hopefully uh we won't hit that 30
[1:48] minute total time limit. So uh do we
want to take the first person who's
[1:57] online there?
[2:02] So
are we going to have her take over? Did
[2:06] you want to take over on the meeting or
should we have Jim run the meeting?
[2:20] » I can take the meeting.
>> Okay, I'm going to turn the volume.
[2:28] » Sorry about that. It was a tech issue.
It just kept spinning and spinning and
[2:33] spinning.
[2:38] Okay. So, Adam Baker is the first one
that had his hand raised for a public
[2:42] comment.
>> Did we have a list of everybody? They
[2:46] signed in.
>> I do have lists here. Yes. And I'll grab
[2:51] them.
[3:08] Thank you. And you said Brian
[3:12] » Adam Baker.
>> Adam Baker. Um, can you have him come up
[3:16] to the microphone by you?
>> Oh, okay.
[3:25] » Can you hear me?
>> Sure can.
[3:28] Excellent. Well, thank you everybody. My
name is Adam Baker. I live in Ashlin
[3:32] joining on Zoom. Thank you for having me
today. Um, I'm just a resident coming in
[3:36] here to talk to you today about flot
cameras. I've read the county's own
[3:40] paperwork and I just like to tell you
what's in it. Ashlin Fox Ashland
[3:44] County's flot camera renews on September
10th for another two years and nobody on
[3:49] this board voted for it because nobody
could have. I filed the records request
[3:53] this July. Chief Deputy Dawson, who's
been very helpful throughout, answered
[3:57] that this contract is handled inside the
sheriff's office and renews on its own.
[4:02] I asked whether the county gave notice
to stop it, and his answer was four
[4:05] simple words. No notice was given. The
order form he signed requires 30 days.
[4:11] For a September 10th renewal, that
deadline was August 11th, and it went by
[4:15] quietly. Not saying anybody did anything
proper, no one did anything wrong. I'm
[4:19] just saying there was no public step in
it, and that's the part this board can
[4:23] change. The other thing in the paperwork
is who can search it. The county's own
[4:27] sharing list dated August 17th shows
nationwide search is turned on and names
[4:33] 754
different agencies across 38 states who
[4:37] have access to this camera's footage.
I'll give the cameras their due. They
[4:43] don't use facial recognition and they do
help recover stolen vehicles and help
[4:47] with other crimes. But that does not
justify the abuse of privacy and Fourth
[4:52] Amendment rights that comes with them.
And to me, it's not even close. When the
[4:56] ACLU obtained Maryland plate reader
records, two in every 1,000 scans
[5:03] produced a hit of any kind, 0.2%.
And of those, 97% were a suspected
[5:10] registration or failed emissions test.
That was Maryland years ago. But the
[5:14] same issue remains true of these cameras
today. That means nearly everyone in
[5:18] this database is just a neighbor driving
to work. Not a lead, not a suspect. Just
[5:22] what the camera caught along the way
will regular people live their lives. No
[5:26] warrant, no suspicion, no way to opt
out. That is not a small thing to renew
[5:32] without a vote. I know today is a
reported not a vote, and that's exactly
[5:36] why I'm asking. Please send the flock
contract to the full county board before
[5:40] you set the budget. Thank you and I
appreciate your time.
[5:46] » Who do we have next
[5:50] » Mara?
[5:55] Tomorrow online then?
>> I'm I'm right here in the uh courthouse.
[6:00] » Okay.
>> Here in the courthouse.
[6:03] » Okay. I'm Tamara Tupesus. I live at 615
Avenue in Ashland, Wisconsin. I'm a
[6:08] resident and I have been in touch with
people. I just shook the mayor's hand
[6:15] before I came here and I have been in
touch with uh the utility engineer.
[6:22] Madison is her first name. I can't I'll
butcher her last name. But um these
[6:27] folks have been very kind and and uh
receptive to my concerns about the
[6:34] eviction of the wildlife just right in
my own little backyard. The state bird,
[6:42] three robins nests, more than 14 robins
died since Enbridge has been in since my
[6:51] water utility has been changed. Since
the water pressure has been better,
[6:56] since my water now smells more like
bleach than water, and I live in the in
[7:02] in the most beautiful place in the world
where water should always be a priority,
[7:09] not not pushed back and not not uh you
know misjudged as to how much it affects
[7:19] everybody. You would not be here for not
this water. That's why this committee is
[7:25] here. That's why I have lived here my
whole life in Wisconsin.
[7:31] And I think that there is a
mismanagement
[7:34] and a not listening by these people who
I go to, I look them in the eye, I get,
[7:42] "Oh yeah, I really care. Oh yeah, but
what about this? What about that?"
[7:48] The best water system was the Roman
water system. It was clay or just, you
[7:53] know, go to your adah in the woods.
Why do we need someone flocking us,
[8:01] taking a picture of us, getting our
water, living our lives?
[8:07] This is corporations
that are not people that are taking
[8:12] charge of our lives insidiously right
here in Ashland, Wisconsin. They are
[8:18] coming in and stomping on our rights
and the
[8:23] flora, the fauna,
the life.
[8:27] This is life. And you are to be
caretakers. We are caretakers.
[8:35] Nobody seems to care about my voice. I
speak up every opportunity I have. And I
[8:43] want you to listen to me now.
[8:48] Take a breath. Enjoy that breath. I
nearly died when the smoke came in.
[8:54] I I really felt bad when I smelled all
that bleach in my water in my house, in
[8:59] my bathtub that I need to make me feel
better.
[9:04] And it's killing me little by little.
And I think we need to take
[9:10] responsibility. We are a community. We
are people.
[9:16] We're not We're not those other things.
Those other things aren't real.
[9:23] This is what's real.
And my experience after being in a water
[9:28] family, both my grandfathers worked at
breweries in Milwaukee. Capston Schlitz.
[9:34] I know water better than anybody. I ate
more Bradford Beach sand. I lived in
[9:40] Cambridge, Wisconsin, where Embridge
blew up my water by my farmland.
[9:47] You let these people in and they will
destroy us. They are destroying us now.
[9:53] And you're not listening. You're not
paying attention. And this is not
[9:58] arbitrary.
This is not flagrant. This is
[10:03] responsible citizenship.
>> Sorry,
[10:07] » this is stewardship.
>> Not mean to cut you off, but we do have
[10:10] a three minute time.
>> Okay.
[10:12] » Sorry. Thank you for your comments.
>> Yeah.
[10:17] » Who is next?
[10:21] » Lydia.
[10:29] » Good afternoon. My name is Lydia
Christensen. I was born here in Ashlin,
[10:33] Wisconsin. I'm a US Senate candidate in
Michigan. Uh I came here to speak on two
[10:38] things, both um the flock camera
situation and the Nbridge cooperation
[10:44] with the sheriff's department. Um I
would t ask that the board take serious
[10:49] consideration of both of the public
comments previously stated before me.
[10:53] Both come from reputable people who have
made their concerns known. Uh, I would
[10:59] like to mention that clock cameras are
very likely unconstitutional. The
[11:04] Supreme Court recently ruled that your
phone falls underneath the papers and
[11:08] effects of the fourth amendment of the
Constitution of the United States of
[11:12] America. Ashlin County will face
potentially lawsuits if they continue to
[11:18] violate US citizens constitutional
rights. Additionally, I would like to
[11:23] say that the federal courts have ruled
that Enbridge has been trespassing on
[11:29] tribal treaty protected land and that it
is absolutely time that the board takes
[11:35] the time to reconsider and strip this
cooperation from the
[11:42] the county.
Whether that means that uh we kick
[11:48] Enbridge out of Wisconsin or we kick
Enbridge out of Michigan, they are
[11:52] violating treaty rights. It's not even
environmental risk that I'm talking
[11:57] about, but the environmental risk is
also documented and very real. Thank
[12:02] you.
[12:07] » Okay, who is next?
>> I don't have any other signup sheets.
[12:14] Oh,
you you
[12:43] uh these are uh two two pages each. This
is the Bay Bills County Ordinance that
[12:47] your neighbors um passed. Um
[12:53] we'll try to be brief as I understand 3
minutes is of course brief and uh
[12:59] there's not really enough time to
mention all the harassment that's been
[13:02] going on uh against local residents uh
by law enforcement.
[13:07] uh a company called SIPs um who is their
security team and how they are being
[13:12] directed your law enforcement is being
directed by SIPs to target uh
[13:16] individuals and harass individual
citizens. Uh they're parking uh Emirates
[13:20] employees are parking in wrongful
places.
[13:23] » Yeah.
>> Um could you state your name and your
[13:26] address, please?
>> I'm sorry. I'm I'm Matthew Bourke. Um
[13:28] I'm not really comfortable with giving
my address at this point in time because
[13:31] like I said, um
>> are you an Ashlin resident? Um I am a
[13:36] rational resident. Uh
>> okay. Thank you.
[13:39] » Uh
brought out this ordinance because uh I
[13:44] also want to notify all of you that the
the agreement that was filed and signed
[13:49] by Ashlin County is against Wisconsin
law. Um the Bayfield County did a
[13:54] wonderful job of making that agreement
transparent to make sure the officers
[13:58] are being taken care of and paid for
their services for extraordinary
[14:01] services. Um, we would appreciate that
you scrap the agreement and adopt look
[14:08] review this ordinance, support the
adoption of this ordinance, bring it to
[14:12] the board of supervisors. This is the
appropriate method to case things
[14:16] transparent. Right now, you all seem to
be working behind a veil. um blocking
[14:23] all information requests and
you're
[14:27] essentially targeting all the local
residents and supporting targeting local
[14:30] residents. All the uh uh board of
supervisors was advised of the law
[14:36] Wisconsin records law that that
Wisconsin would be um that they would if
[14:40] they signed it they would be breaking
Wisconsin law. Um but they approve they
[14:44] decided to sign it anyways. I understand
that they were put in a pressure situ
[14:47] situation and given 5 days to make this
decision even though their lawyer said,
[14:51] "Oh, that's plenty of time through the
weekend." It's really not. You all have
[14:54] known about this a long time. I don't
know how long the sheriff's department
[14:57] had been talking about that agreement.
But to drop it on and use threatening
[15:01] things to say either you sign this right
now or you're going to be million
[15:04] dollars in the hole and we are going to
and Embridge is going to bankrupt you is
[15:09] a straightup threat. I've been
threatened by Ember Security. I've been
[15:12] stalked by security. I'm not the only
one. They've been speeding down roads.
[15:16] Every complaint that the residents have
gone to call you on has turned into more
[15:21] emage creating stories to target those
people. They're compiling their stories,
[15:26] giving multiple things and trying to say
that that
[15:30] stopping residents from getting to the
doctor's appointment. when the doctors
[15:34] uh when when the local resident gets
angry and and says get the hell out of
[15:40] my way, they get the that local resident
gets charged because the Emirbridge
[15:43] workers are compiling stories and
conspiring to basically say this guy
[15:47] threatened us when in fact these
residents are the one that are live are
[15:51] living here. The sheriff's department is
not just protecting them and allowing
[15:56] them to work do things illegally which
means parking on the road. They have
[16:00] their own easements. Okay, these are
public roads. Citizens can, you know,
[16:04] have access, but Emridge owns these
other roads. They have places to park.
[16:08] They're stopping up traffic and making
dangerous situations.
[16:12] Today, I just got back from a situation
where officers were on their easement
[16:16] while construction was actively working.
That's an OSHA violation. And if they're
[16:19] not wearing their hard hats, their
safety limbs. Every single worker on
[16:22] that place knows what those safety
things are. Embridge is not following
[16:26] safety, but yet the officers show up and
say, "We're here to enforce safety and
[16:30] are keeping people away from the public
lands and the and the and the waterways,
[16:34] the publicly accessible waterways that
they can legally stand in." And it's
[16:38] been turned into a bully system. And I
would like you to all go home, look at
[16:42] this ordinance, pass it up.
I understand whether that agreement can
[16:48] be put to the side. All those records
can be opened up because without having
[16:51] any transparency, you now are being part
of a conspiracy to target people and I
[16:56] don't think you want to put yourself in
that position. So, I would appreciate it
[16:59] if you'd look at this. I understand that
the board of supervisors meeting has
[17:03] been cancelled this month. Little weird
since they went on an Embridge tour
[17:07] instead, but is what it is. Um, so
please review this. Talk to your fellow
[17:13] people about it. Please support your
local residents and stop them from
[17:17] harassing and targeting and stalking.
Literally, these cars are are driving
[17:20] around. I I talked to an one of the
security guys says, "You've been
[17:24] following me around for five miles." I
said, "Is that st isn't that stalking?"
[17:27] He says, "No, this is what my boss has
told me to do. I they told me to jump in
[17:30] the car and start following you around
everywhere." Um, the the the it's not
[17:35] just going from that. It's going to
spreading that information to other
[17:38] local residents that are getting old
other local residents
[17:41] with propaganda saying, "Oh, uh, uh,
drones are dive bombing. This person's
[17:46] doing that." There's been no criminal
activity. I like I don't know where
[17:50] these rumors are coming from other than
a propaganda piece. Um, thank you for
[17:53] your time and I really appreciate you
all listening to us.
[17:58] » Thank you. Is there anybody else there
inside looking to speak?
[18:05] I do not see any.
>> All right. Is there anyone else online
[18:10] that wanted to speak?
Anyone online?
[18:17] Anyone online?
Okay, seeing none, we can close the
[18:22] public comment and move on to reports
and updates.
[18:28] Review the quarterly financials.
[18:39] So, Laura, I'm just filling in for Lori
and Dan today. Um, I'm not
[18:45] » Is there somebody from the sheriff's
department?
[18:48] » Dave is here.
>> Dave could go ahead and handle that
[18:53] then.
>> Okay.
[18:58] » Hi there.
Um, so Dave,
[19:01] » hi. Um, just looking at the general
ledger here. Um, currently, as you can
[19:06] see to the right, the percentage
allocated was, uh, we're we're actually
[19:10] doing really good regarding the the
actual budget. Now, granted, we we are,
[19:18] uh, without one position in recreation
and um, one office spot. Um but as far
[19:28] as the actual allocated budget, we're
doing really good. Um
[19:35] now, um I know um when we look at the
the numbers, the jail right now um is
[19:44] doing good. We have to send
approximately four people by the end of
[19:49] the year to training.
um there we've
[19:53] already extended um the allowable time
before they get get sent to training by
[19:59] state. So um we're going to see some
numbers end of this year and then
[20:06] beginning of next year when it when it
comes to overtime. Um
[20:12] but after those four come back, we
should be pretty good. We should be
[20:17] really good actually with uh our jail
side of things.
[20:21] Um,
>> are we fully staffed in the jail then?
[20:24] » Yes, ma'am. Yes, we are. [clears throat]
[20:28] » I know there's a I think one kitchen
spot maybe um that could be open. Um,
[20:34] but
right now we are currently fully staffed
[20:38] as far as correctional goes.
Um, we do, just so you know, we do have
[20:44] one resation.
Um
[20:48] he's uh he's moving to another county.
Um he is a sergeant in the jail. So that
[20:57] spot will be available or open. So there
there will be potentially
[21:04] um a promotion and then one jailer spot
will be
[21:09] um I think he is due I think beginning
of September is when his last day is.
[21:17] » So um I don't want to I just need to
interrupt you for a second. Can we move
[21:22] the camera over to point at Dave just
for a little housekeeping thing?
[21:27] » Sorry.
>> It's okay. You got a lot to do.
[21:33] There he is. He's sitting in my chair.
[laughter]
[21:39] Okay, Dave, you can go on.
>> Okay. [laughter]
[21:43] Um,
anything else as far as the budgetary
[21:48] issues? I I I don't believe we have a
current issue as far as um
[21:55] staffing. Um,
I know that we are we're doing pretty
[22:00] good with the numbers we have. Um,
yeah.
[22:08] Did anybody else have any questions for
Dave on that budget piece?
[22:13] This is
kind of us reviewing.
[22:17] » This is Jim here. Uh,
>> okay. Is there any anything on here
[22:22] comparing,
you know, like last year? Uh any running
[22:27] totals, uh comparisons? Uh
obviously things are probably going up.
[22:36] » Yeah, cost of things are going up. Um
the biggest hit we'll take for next year
[22:41] will be the health care costs within the
jail. Um,
[22:46] I think it's projected 5% increase.
That's what I budgeted for for 2027.
[22:53] Um,
[22:57] obviously we can't predict accidents,
but um, we know that the healthc care
[23:03] costs will go up. Food obviously,
gasoline um for the squad cars.
[23:11] Um yeah, all those things we kind of can
predict, but we we kind of
[23:19] are limited right now as far as um 2027.
I don't um I did have the 2026 versus
[23:28] 2027 and we are on we are still
um we're still above where we were for
[23:35] last year. So, we're doing pretty good.
And we had a lot of
[23:39] open positions last year in the jail.
So,
[23:44] so yeah, we're we're doing pretty good.
[23:52] Is there any other questions for Dave on
the budget piece?
[24:03] Well, at least Jim asked a question this
time. It's it's it's a good thing. Um,
[24:09] so moving on is courthouse maintenance
update.
[24:15] [clears throat and cough] I believe last
uh time we had talked about an issue in
[24:18] the main breaker panel um and our our uh
solar system. Still waiting on quotes
[24:25] for the solar system. I did reach out to
them. They're just super busy with
[24:29] actually some other project
projects [clears throat] that they're
[24:32] working on for the county. Um
the panel has been fixed with no
[24:38] hiccups. Um we did have an a capacitor
to go bad in our main exhaust fan up in
[24:44] the attic, but I was able to fix that
myself. So it was it was cheap and easy.
[24:49] Um, as far as that, uh, looking forward
just shortly here beginning prepared for
[24:57] the winter and no other hiccups as of
right now. So,
[25:02] hope it just stays that way,
>> right?
[25:06] It's always the goal. Um, did you know
if they are looking for grants to help
[25:14] with the solar?
I believe that'll be on the table once
[25:18] we actually get a price for updating it.
It's been a bit of a chore for him
[25:22] because it's an outdated system. So,
it's kind of revamping
[25:27] almost redesigning the whole system if
that makes sense.
[25:31] » Wonderful.
>> Sounds really sounds really cheap and
[25:34] easy like
>> Exactly. [laughter]
[25:39] » Um,
anything else you need to highlight?
[25:45] » Not as of right now. Oh, I think we're I
think that's about it.
[25:51] » Any of the committee members have any
questions?
[25:59] Hearing none, we will move on to the
sheriff department reports.
[26:06] Dave, you got that one, too?
>> Yes, ma'am.
[26:10] » Go ahead and shoot.
>> Okay. Okay. So, these numbers are
[26:15] because we
these numbers aren't completely, you
[26:19] know, complete as far as, you know,
we're still in August and I switched the
[26:24] and usually September the end of
September is our our quarter three.
[26:28] » Yeah.
>> Um, so they're just they're preliminary.
[26:31] Um, obviously I'll adjust them for our
next meeting. So, this is just strictly
[26:36] July through August 17th.
>> Okay.
[26:42] » All right. So, totals uh 31 arrest, uh
11 referred to prosecution,
[26:50] 161 citations,
117 complaints to investigate, and 1,428
[26:57] calls for service.
Total number of bookings so far, uh 121
[27:03] as of last week.
Uh 31 is our current average
[27:10] for this quarter.
[27:13] See, looks like one transport,
eight hours for a total mileage of 526.
[27:21] Year-to- date mileage, 4,270.
[27:26] Zero juvenile transports.
Seven other wants and warrant
[27:31] transports.
Total mileage,
[27:36] uh, 2,867.
year to date, it's 15,998.
[27:42] And these transports are anything that's
court-ordered
[27:46] um
warrant picking up or from uh the
[27:53] prisons to bring back for court dates
and etc. Um current uh number of inmates
[28:00] being boarded is one and current uh
number of inmates on electronic monitors
[28:06] three.
[28:12] And that is all for the report.
Um, has any of these numbers gone up
[28:19] with
us having to do
[28:25] assist with the Nbridge project?
Uh, calls for service. Yes. Uh, we've
[28:31] had some increase um with calls for
service. Um,
[28:38] regarding anything from a 911 call to an
accident,
[28:43] um, we have seen some increase.
[28:49] Okay. Um, for Excuse me, that was a good
squeak. Um, for the next time I'd like
[28:57] to see those calls separated out on this
spreadsheet so that way we know what
[29:02] kind of calls and issues we're having
through that so we can compare.
[29:09] » You're saying separate the calls for
service relation to
[29:13] » to the Enbridge.
>> Okay.
[29:16] Um
[29:20] and then um
[29:26] and then the breakdown um who is like
have that separated out for if there is
[29:33] people that get arrested or referred for
to court for charges and such. Um does
[29:41] anybody else have any [clears throat]
boy I got another squeak. Uh, does
[29:44] anybody else have another qu any
questions on
[29:49] the
law enforcement report?
[30:01] All right,
next is the fun part, the flat cameras.
[30:06] So,
you want to give us a good rundown on
[30:10] that? Because I thought we didn't own
any.
[30:15] Uh yes, we have currently one camera
in contract with Flock. Uh that camera
[30:22] is on 13 and 77 intersection in the city
of Melon. The sheriff last year the
[30:30] sheriff approached the city of Melon and
asked for permission to place that
[30:35] camera within the city limits
and it was granted.
[30:42] I can tell you uh I doing some record
requests with Adam Baker who's online um
[30:52] » very transparent you know I understand
the concern I also understand the
[30:57] importance of the the tool that's being
used um I can tell you from doing audits
[31:04] that the last person besides myself to
touch or log into Flock from our agency
[31:12] was mid July.
Um
[31:17] I can tell you in June, I believe it was
um
[31:23] uh mid June that camera did help solve a
incident and within the city of limits
[31:29] of Melon where an individual did fire
a firearm.
[31:36] Um an offduty officer was walking with
his family.
[31:41] Um, within 30 seconds, dispatch was able
to give other responding units that
[31:48] plate information and vehicle
description. Um, Adam did mention, Adam
[31:53] Baker online did mention that, you know,
to its credit, you know, Flock does not
[31:59] take pictures of people.
Um,
[32:04] I understand the importance of people
realizing that, you know, it's a it's a
[32:08] fixed position on it. You know, that
camera does not move. Um, there's no
[32:14] facial recognition as Adam pointed out.
Um,
[32:22] monthly I do an audit. basically the the
large numbers that I gave Adam because I
[32:29] gave Adam everything from January I
think to
[32:33] current of the network it's called where
other agencies
[32:41] they utilize a search function called
nationwide search.
[32:46] um that search is that if they're
looking for a missing person and there's
[32:51] an amber alert, a silver alert, a green
alert, um
[32:56] they can type in that plate or partial
and it basically searches all those
[33:02] cameras within that designated s area
that they actually designate they want
[33:06] to search. So there is some large
numbers.
[33:11] It doesn't tell me if that plate that
they were searching for was spotted on
[33:17] our camera. It just says that our camera
was used in that search.
[33:22] Um
obviously with
[33:27] when it comes to that tool
there is potential for being overabused
[33:35] and I understand that completely and
that's why you know with
[33:40] audits with policy
we limit that potential.
[33:48] Um
but with with our agency of 20 sworn or
[33:53] 19 sworn currently um the last person
besides myself was
[33:59] mid last month that that actually logged
in. Um I can tell you we don't have time
[34:05] to search it for just randomly. Um,
and there was four incidences I believe
[34:14] that was kind of like
I guess the most searched reason why.
[34:20] One was welfare, one was theft, one was
traffic violations,
[34:25] and I believe the other one was
uh criminal damage to property. They
[34:30] were searching for a car that they had a
description of. They type in a
[34:34] description, not a plate, and they get a
a slew,
[34:39] which requires the work still to be un
done on the investigator or whoever's
[34:44] searching. But it kind of helps that
tool helps um especially in a rural area
[34:51] investigation wise.
[34:57] » So on these reports that you pull, it
tells what reason they searched.
[35:02] » Yeah.
Yes, ma'am. So, I required when we got
[35:06] the cameras, I required them to actually
put in a case number and a reason why
[35:10] they're searching. So, it gives me who
searched it within the organization,
[35:16] why, when, what they searched, and you
know, what time they searched. Um,
[35:22] they're required to do a double uh
authentic modification, this MA MFA,
[35:28] before they actually access the account.
So it's yeah it's it's pretty locked
[35:34] down as far as that goes.
>> So mostly all those numbers that Adam
[35:41] had spoke about it's other people
searching our cameras.
[35:45] » Yes ma'am. So that so when they do a
nationwide search and and they select
[35:50] that geographic area whether it be
Midwest or just nationwide
[35:56] um our camera is included in those
searches.
[35:59] but it won't tell me if they've actually
got a result from our camera.
[36:05] Um, for instance, um, we'll get calls
from neighboring counties. Um, examples
[36:13] is Iron County was dealing with someone
who was suicidal.
[36:17] Um, they left their parents' house. Um
and the camera picked them up coming
[36:25] back towards their parents' house. Um
threats of a firearm. Um well, there was
[36:33] a firearm in inside the motorcycle sadd
uh saddle bag, but um they were able to
[36:39] respond back to the house because they
knew sort of the direction that he would
[36:43] be going where our camera was placed. So
they were able to get there, you know,
[36:50] and that essentially helped that person
out before something bad happened.
[36:55] So that's another c that's that's just
an example of another county using our
[36:59] camera when they did a nationwide search
on it helped them. Um,
[37:07] so every place that uses these cameras
has to have a contract with Flock.
[37:15] Uh yes, with FA requires a contract. Um
usually it's the
[37:23] what I've seen is three years. Um it's
an auto renewal.
[37:29] Um basically the first year and then it
auto renews. There's no signatory, you
[37:36] know, requirements. There's no it auto,
you know, auto renews. Um
[37:43] yeah.
How long is this data kept?
[37:48] » Uh what specific data are you asking?
>> So if there's scans on this,
[37:56] so
is it a week's worth of license plates?
[38:01] Is it a month's worth of license plates?
30 days.
[38:07] 30 days.
And then everything's deleted.
[38:12] I can't say what if it's deleted on
their part because the data is kept with
[38:17] flock. We have access to all the data
but it's it's not kept locally.
[38:25] » Is there a contract with this that we
could see also with flock?
[38:31] » Yeah, I provided uh Adam as well the
same contract. I can send it to you
[38:35] guys.
>> That would be cool.
[38:39] Um,
[38:43] and then my audits, just so you know, my
audits go back longer than that
[38:49] as far as access to the system locally,
our access.
[38:56] » Okay.
>> So, just flock only contract with law
[38:59] enforcement.
>> No, they do they do businesses. They do
[39:05] » Okay. Uh HOAs, they do
>> township governments.
[39:09] » Yeah, they do townships. Um
>> Okay.
[39:14] » Yeah.
>> So what HOA could access our camera?
[39:20] » No. I So I limit So what I did was they
have to they have to ask or share. So
[39:27] what I did was I there's only one
federal entity that's listed um that I
[39:34] allow access to. It's um it's a fed it's
um
[39:40] believe it's out of Indiana or Illinois.
It's um
[39:44] it's a park service. Um but
federal entities can't ask. I I blocked
[39:52] the their requests. So, it's it's just
law enforcement
[39:59] that ask for us and like um you have
other
[40:04] you have other entities uh fusion
centers, Haida centers um that ask for
[40:10] requests, but
that's all blocked.
[40:14] » All law enforcement. Yeah.
[40:20] » When did we take over that camera in
Maryland?
[40:24] September
of last year, I think it went it went
[40:29] live. It took were several planning
issues that they had to deal with for
[40:35] the state, but um I [clears throat]
think it went live September area.
[40:47] And so this policy has been in place for
about a year. No, not this policy.
[40:55] » This one I This one I kind of revised. I
added my job title on it. Basically,
[41:01] » second page you'll see where it says
chief deputy. Yeah, it says
[41:07] revise it if we needed. I kind of it's
put myself out, you know, for as far as
[41:14] responsibility goes. Um
kind of made it where I'm responsible
[41:21] for the audits. Yeah,
>> you're in trouble.
[41:24] » Yeah.
>> And this has been reviewed by corporate
[41:28] council.
>> No, this this policy um this policy is
[41:34] from Lexiple.
[41:38] It's basically one of their good
practice policies.
[41:46] There's several policies that Lexiful We
use Lexiful for all of our law
[41:51] enforcement policies. Uh some are state
mandatory,
[41:56] federal
and then there's good practice. So this
[42:02] is one of their good practice policies.
[42:09] And when I
>> So when I asked you about our flock
[42:12] cameras before and you said we didn't
have any
[42:17] » when
um
[42:23] we've had
>> sometime early this summer.
[42:27] » We've had one since September of last
year.
[42:29] » Okay. Okay.
So,
[42:33] and where it says ALPR,
[42:38] this policy also incorporates, which we
don't have, but it also incorporates
[42:44] license plates readers within vehicles.
[42:48] So
[42:58] is why did we take over this camera
if we didn't have it previous any
[43:05] previously?
We didn't take over a camera. We entered
[43:10] into a contract with Flock. The sheriff
>> the administration just basically they
[43:15] asked for permission from the city of
Melon to place the camera within the
[43:19] city limits.
>> Wow.
[43:25] » Hasn't that camera been there for like
ever?
[43:29] » Yeah. It just wasn't operational.
>> Oh, so is a fake camera.
[43:38] a fancy flashing camera.
>> It It has some issues with battery life
[43:44] because, as you know, our sunshine
doesn't
[43:49] » Yeah.
>> Yeah.
[43:52] » Fun.
[43:55] Does anyone else on the committee have
any questions about the flat camera?
[44:02] » Paul here. I'm wondering are there any
more flock camera locations under
[44:07] consideration at this time?
>> No. Flock wanted us to get more. They
[44:14] actually for they were trying to force
us to get three more. Their policy was
[44:18] they wanted they wanted every agency to
have at least four and we told them no.
[44:24] The sheriff was very adamant that if if
we had to get more that we were going to
[44:28] cancel. So,
>> thank you. Yes, sir.
[44:34] Is there a monthly fee, yearly? Is it
free?
[44:38] » It's not free. It's not free,
unfortunately. It's It's 3,000 annually.
[44:43] 3,000.
>> What?
[44:55] Is there any more questions from the
committee on the flat cameras?
[45:01] All
[45:06] right, hearing none,
just scroll back up to the agenda.
[45:13] Um,
[45:17] Gail administration,
we don't really have Matt anymore, but
[45:22] that report
kind of did that already.
[45:28] Who's in jail?
So, this stuff is out of order.
[45:38] » Anything else on jail administration,
Dave?
[45:42] » No, ma'am.
[45:46] » Um, then let's go on to Christina for
emergency management.
[45:54] » Hello, Christina. emergency management
um hazard mitigation plan. We got a
[46:01] resolution in June for that. It has been
turned into FEMA to be finalized. Um the
[46:07] whole process has been delayed several
times due to government shutdowns and um
[46:13] but it is on the road to being
finalized.
[46:16] Um consolidated PAP, they're looking for
a new director.
[46:20] Um the current one is now that
everything is pretty much smoothed out
[46:25] and they're running quite well, she is
looking to um step down and have someone
[46:29] else take that role full-time. Um they
recently added a new program that helps
[46:34] dispatchers with life-saving directions
for callers until EMS gets there. Um, so
[46:40] far they've had several lifaving success
stories where the dispatcher was able to
[46:46] um
give the caller directions on different
[46:52] um CPR and things like that and holding
pressure and um so that's exciting. Um
[47:00] EPCRA and EMPG grants. EMPG.
Last year, um Wisconsin Emergency
[47:08] Management had to file a lawsuit to
receive the funding for the full year of
[47:12] 2025.
Um they won that lawsuit, so we are
[47:16] receiving the full funding for last
year. Um the application for this year's
[47:22] funding just came out on Friday. Um I'm
almost done with that application. It's
[47:27] due at the end of September, but it
should be done by tomorrow. Um, I also
[47:32] applied for the EPRA computer hazmat
grant that was submitted last month. We
[47:37] should be receiving the award letter
soon. Um, this grant is a yearly grant
[47:41] that I apply for. Um, $2,000 goes
towards emergency management to be used
[47:48] to update computer equipment and then
$6,000 of that grant is for our hazmat
[47:53] team which is at the um Ashlin Fire
Department.
[47:59] So, that has been applied for and we'll
be hearing about that soon. Um outreach,
[48:04] I assisted with clean sweep. I helped
plan the um all county employee picnic,
[48:10] helped with the Ashlin County Sheriff's
Department with National Night Out. Um I
[48:16] had the Genesis emergency alert flyers
um around the Ashlin County Fair, hoping
[48:22] to get more people to sign up for that.
[48:27] Um, as far as training goes, I completed
all the know before internet trainings,
[48:32] completed public information basics.
It's a class by Wisconsin emergency
[48:37] management. I completed the emergency
operations center organization and
[48:41] coordination methods from Wisconsin
emergency management. I did the joint
[48:46] information center planning for tribal,
state, and local public information
[48:50] officers. That was also through
Wisconsin emergency management.
[48:54] I completed a livestock response
with WHEM. Um I completed a project
[49:02] lifesaver training and I also completed
coordinated response exercise with the
[49:08] pipeline safety program. I attended all
the Northwest Regional Wisconsin
[49:13] Emergency Management monthly meetings
which is a grant requirement. I attended
[49:17] all fire association and EMS council
meetings. I attended
[49:25] um
meetings with the preparedness planning
[49:29] group and I also met with Ashton Health
and Human Services about shelters.
[49:34] Um, as far as
major grants and funding, the Senate
[49:39] appropriations bill for 3,155,000
for the emergency services radio
[49:46] infrastructure project was earmarked
earmarked for Ashen County working
[49:50] closely with Sheriff Subkey, Chief
Deputy Dawson, Erica
[49:56] Hannacle, and Caroline Twambbley. We
submitted the two applications to the
[50:01] part to the Department of Homeland
Security COPS grant office for review.
[50:05] We should be um hearing about that in
October.
[50:11] So that's my summer in a nutshell.
You always give a good long report.
[50:18] [laughter]
Busy busy busy.
[50:22] Does anyone have any questions for
Christina?
[50:30] Next is Enbridge updates.
[50:35] Don't know who has that one.
Would that be a Dan update which we
[50:42] would table to the next meeting?
>> I suppose it would be
[50:49] either that or the sheriff, but neither
one is there. So,
[50:54] all right, let's move on to approval of
the meeting minutes from June 29th. Do I
[51:00] have a motion for that or any
any corrections?
[51:09] » Jim will make a motion.
>> Do we have a second?
[51:14] » Will harm second.
Have a motion and a second.
[51:20] To approve the meeting minutes. All
those in favor, please signify by saying
[51:24] I.
[51:30] Nobody used their mics.
>> They all said I. They did use their
[51:33] mics.
>> Naughty, naughty, naughty.
[51:38] Um,
and then we've got a solar panels on
[51:44] County Property Farm Road.
[51:48] I suppose that's a Dan thing again.
>> Laura, this is Pat Kenny.
[51:55] » Yep.
>> Um, I can speak to this one. Um, back on
[52:00] February 17th, I brought to a zoning
meeting a discussion of considering
[52:04] putting solar uh panels um expanding the
Ordo solar farm that's out there. In
[52:10] 2019,
um, Excel Energy, um, put in a community
[52:15] solar garden there. Um, and they use a
company, One Energy out of Madison to
[52:19] put that in. It's a 1 megawatt DC or 7
megawatt AC solar farm. The county owns
[52:26] 20 acres adjacent to that. And so one of
the things I've been thinking about as
[52:31] we look at our comp plans and we talk
about climate change, sustainability,
[52:36] getting off fossil fuels, being more
independent on local energy, and from an
[52:41] economic development standpoint,
producing more of our energy here. The
[52:46] Bayfront Power Plant Nation only
produces about half the energy
[52:49] electricity that we use here. In the
next couple years, they're going to
[52:53] start their planning process to uh make
improvements and upgrades there. So from
[52:58] an economic development standpoint, you
know, one of the things I think about
[53:01] is, you know, we send money outside this
area for the electricity that we use. We
[53:07] don't keep those local jobs here. So if
we expand this on that county parcel,
[53:13] JMA Electric has uh people that are
wellversed with solar
[53:18] um farms at this point to equipment and
talent. So it would support some local
[53:22] jobs there. The county has owned that
parcel for about 20 years. We let a
[53:27] farmer hay that parcel. The company that
would install the solar farm, we have a
[53:33] proposal from them to use 15 acres of
that. The other five are probably too
[53:38] wet. They would pay us $800 per acre per
year. So that's $12,000 annually rent on
[53:45] that parcel with 2% annual increases, a
30-year lease with an option for
[53:50] additional 10 years.
So, it would support some jobs, would
[53:55] address some of our goals with climate
change. The county would still own the
[53:59] parcel. Um, and then generation down the
road, if the county wanted to build
[54:04] something there, the county would still
have um that parcel.
[54:10] Back in December, I got a packet of
information from a company wanted to put
[54:15] in a utility scale solar farm with my
property east of Mason, the farmland I
[54:20] own. um with my place literally as a
center of that. So that sent me down the
[54:24] road of doing a lot of reading. When you
look at aerial maps for northern
[54:29] Wisconsin and think um kind of north of
Spooner, there's not a lot of farm
[54:34] fields compared to Woods and then you
have to look at where the high voltage
[54:39] power lines are. My property has one
high voltage power line post on it. Um
[54:45] and so they want to buy 15 to 20 acres
just for a new substation and battery
[54:50] storage. So in Ashland they're proposing
battery storage as part of that too. So
[54:55] when you look at where the high voltage
power lines are and the distribution
[54:58] lines off the high voltage power lines
um and then where substations are many
[55:03] of which are not adequate to put in a
solar farm. Um, there's very few places
[55:09] up here where we have the ability to put
in a solar farm without a larger
[55:14] investment or local land owners agreeing
to say yes to that. Um, this is one of
[55:21] the few places up here where the
economics work. It's small, but there
[55:27] just aren't going to be that many places
where someone's going to say yes to this
[55:31] and it would connect to either a high
voltage power line or a distribution
[55:35] line, which is the one where Excel
Energy has the solar farm right now. So
[55:41] there's limited places that we could put
this and I realize it means that we
[55:44] can't use it for something else in the
next generation but anything we would
[55:48] build in terms of buildings there's a
lot more options for that than for
[55:54] putting solar somewhere. So I guess to
me I mean you know without going into
[55:58] more detail than that and more of the
the reason for making the case I guess
[56:05] you know like a few people in this room
I'm old enough that we've talked about
[56:08] comp plans for longer than I can
remember. We know most of them get stuck
[56:11] on the shelf and forgotten.
And when we look at our comp plans and
[56:15] the updates that we're working on, to
me, this seems to check a lot of boxes
[56:20] in terms of what we say we value.
You know, we all use oil yet, or almost
[56:26] all of us do. I bike here, but I mean, I
still have vehicles with fuel, so I
[56:30] understand why we have an Enbridge oil
line running through here. I understand
[56:34] that. Um, but if we're going to change
things in the next generation, then we
[56:41] need to be willing to do some things
like I mean, I realize this is a small
[56:45] project compared to our total needs for
energy. But, you know, we should provide
[56:50] some leadership on this um rather than
just put it something in writing and say
[56:55] somebody else should do it because I
will tell you as a land owner, I don't
[57:00] want somebody else telling me what I can
and can't do with my land. the law will
[57:04] specify certain things I can and can't
do, but I want to be able to do with my
[57:08] land what I choose. Um, and I am open to
having a utility scale solar farm there
[57:13] if they can pull enough land together,
which means 700 acres or more. And if
[57:18] they can't do utility scale, and the
PSC, the public service commission, um,
[57:22] does the permitting for utility scale.
Smaller than that, um, it would be the
[57:27] county that would do the zoning. on this
project because it lands in the city
[57:31] limits. The city would do the zoning.
So, to me, it's partly the question, are
[57:36] we going to do some of what we talk
about? Um, or are we not going to do
[57:41] some of what we talk about? And for me
personally, out on my land, which is Old
[57:45] Lake Superior shoreline on the higher
ground. It's not suitable for roll crops
[57:49] anymore. Too much wind erosion, loss of
organic matter. It can't take farming
[57:54] anymore. Not with row crops. It's got to
be in hay, but nobody wants to put it in
[57:58] hay. It's not worth the money on that
ground. So for the land, it's going to
[58:02] be better off in solar farm than it is
with row crops. There's land out there
[58:07] that's just bare, doesn't grow anything
anymore, and it gets worse each year. So
[58:11] I'm willing to say yes to a solar farm
on my land because it makes sense in the
[58:16] big picture of things.
So I could take some questions on this,
[58:22] Laura, if that's okay, if anyone wants.
um the February 17th packet for zoning.
[58:27] I wrote some questions, sent them to the
administrator. They were not in the
[58:30] packet there. So, I pulled up my
questions for that meeting and there was
[58:35] not an agenda bill written for this one.
So, um I understand that nobody had
[58:41] anything to read on this item, which is
why I came to this meeting, but um if
[58:46] the chair will allow questions, I'd be
happy to answer whatever I could.
[58:51] Is there any questions from the
committee?
[58:56] » What's the cost for installation?
>> The company One Energy did the current
[59:01] solar farm there and
when I talked to the administrator about
[59:07] this um we both were in agreement that
we did not want to own the solar farm.
[59:13] So under the proposal here, one energy
would install the solar farm and then
[59:18] sell the project to Excel Energy. So the
first step in this is we would enter
[59:24] into an agreement terms of an agreement
with one energy so they can access the
[59:29] land the person from one energy who
lives in Madison and ironically his dad
[59:33] decided to live in Ashland. So when he
was up in June visiting he walked the
[59:38] property and he thinks 15 acres are
suitable. five he thinks are too wet for
[59:43] what they want to do. Um so he would
examine the property more closely. I
[59:51] asked him for zoning, do you need to go
through the city on zoning first before
[59:56] we can finalize a contract? And the
answer is yes because they've got to
[1:00:00] make sure that um the city will say yes
to this and then think setbacks for
[1:00:05] example from roads and other things. Um
so given there's one solar farm there we
[1:00:11] would anticipate you know the same
guidelines for zoning but still that has
[1:00:15] to go forward through the city. So, One
Energy would build the project and then
[1:00:20] sell the project. And once they get to a
point where they know what they can put
[1:00:24] in there um in terms of solar, so what
it'll generate and when they'll be able
[1:00:29] to connect it, they'll sign an
interconnection agreement. And in that
[1:00:33] agreement, Excel will then buy the
project. They'll know what it'll
[1:00:38] generate in terms of how much
electricity. So, One Energy and Excel
[1:00:43] will work on that piece. We will simply
lease the land to them. We will not own
[1:00:47] the solar farm. We will not be
responsible for maintenance. Currently
[1:00:52] on the solar farm there, JOMA Electric
does the maintenance. That's worked out
[1:00:56] well for One Energy and they would hire
Joma Electric also to do the maintenance
[1:01:02] on this if we expand onto the county
land. We would simply be leasing the
[1:01:06] land
[1:01:10] unless the board decides they would
rather own it. But putting that in is a
[1:01:14] rather heavy lift on investment.
>> So basically what you're saying it'd be
[1:01:19] roughly 12,000 per year paid to the
county.
[1:01:24] » The county
>> and the county would have to sign a
[1:01:28] 10-year lease or what how would that
work?
[1:01:31] » The first step in this is we would sign
an agreement that they could access the
[1:01:35] land, work on developing the project u
for up to 18 months. Um, and the big
[1:01:41] takeaway there is we're not going to
call somebody else and say, "Hey, you
[1:01:45] know, are you interested in this?" And
then having two companies looking at the
[1:01:48] same land because then at most one, you
know, could end up putting a solar farm
[1:01:54] there. So, we would give them exclusive
rights for up to 18 months to be on the
[1:01:58] land, examine it, work with the city to
get through zoning, and work towards
[1:02:03] getting an interconnection agreement.
and the interconnection agreements. Um
[1:02:08] the information on our high voltage
power lines, the loads etc. is fairly
[1:02:14] closely held information and it's partly
for national security reasons. So we
[1:02:20] cannot simply go oh you know give us all
the data on the high voltage power
[1:02:25] lines. I know the line that runs across
my property is 161 kilovolt but I don't
[1:02:30] know how much more capacity there is to
add a load there. I did ask the company
[1:02:34] I'm talking to, are you going to have to
upgrade that power line? And it's rather
[1:02:38] amazing what what they know about my
property. They've researched mine in the
[1:02:43] neighbors.
And he said, "We know that it's going to
[1:02:47] cost us, and I won't share the number,
um, but it's in the millions to upgrade
[1:02:52] that power line that runs there." And I
said, "Well, I've got an easement and it
[1:02:56] specifies the number of arms on those
posts and the number of wires." So
[1:03:03] larger diameter wires can carry more
power. He said, "Well, we're going to
[1:03:07] have to put on bigger arms. There still
be three arms, but they're going to be
[1:03:10] bigger and they're going to be larger
diameter wires." So another factor in
[1:03:14] this, if we think about it, if half of
our electricity comes from outside the
[1:03:17] area, and personally, I'm not worried
about data centers because why would you
[1:03:22] bring that much power here if we only
have half of what we already need? It's
[1:03:26] not cost-effective.
So, you know, if we don't want bigger
[1:03:30] power lines and we don't want more power
lines running, it means we need more
[1:03:35] local generation also. But in all
likelihood,
[1:03:38] we're going to have a bigger bigger arms
and bigger diameter wires, you know,
[1:03:43] running through that line. Um, so, but
then you have to put in a large enough
[1:03:49] solar farm to justify the price tag of
upgrading that power line and putting in
[1:03:55] a substation with battery storage. It's
going to be 10 or 15 acres. This one
[1:03:59] here, one of the things I thought about
was when they put that one in there, it
[1:04:05] demonstrated that they had the capacity
on that distribution line to connected
[1:04:09] to their substation and do the
distribution locally. They also knew the
[1:04:13] power plant here didn't produce all of
our energy. So, it turns out they can
[1:04:17] use the existing substation and
infrastructure they have in place to add
[1:04:22] on to Ordoc Solar with what the county
has in their property without having to
[1:04:28] upgrade power lines somewhere or put in
a new substation, which pretty quickly
[1:04:32] gets to be not cost effective unless you
can pull enough land together, which for
[1:04:37] the most part up here is difficult. And
the few land owners that have enough
[1:04:42] land to put something large in are our
dairy farmers on Samurn Avenue, Highway
[1:04:48] 112, if they want to exit dairy farming,
they could l rent rent that land out or
[1:04:54] over my neck of the woods, White River
Egg. Um, but even then, they need more
[1:05:00] land than just that for utility scale.
[1:05:04] And this offer of $800 an acre,
the offer that I've been made is $800 an
[1:05:11] acre, but that's a large solar farm. And
if you read the return on investments on
[1:05:15] these utility scale solar farms with the
information you can find from them
[1:05:18] around the country. What we have right
now is I call it the wild wild west of
[1:05:23] putting in solar farms. There are deep
pocketed investors and speculators
[1:05:29] um trying to put these in because of the
return on investment. They pay off in 10
[1:05:33] to 12 years typically. And yet the life
is for 30 years with extensions that can
[1:05:38] go five and 10 more years up to 50 years
and more. So we can I don't think we're
[1:05:44] going to get utility scale unless it's
my neck of the woods because we don't
[1:05:46] have enough land here. And the company
I'm talking to, they've looked at Ashlin
[1:05:50] County. They don't see the possibility
of utility scale here and being able to
[1:05:54] pull together that much land where
there's a high voltage power line that's
[1:05:59] suitable. something smaller perhaps but
not the large stuff. I think we can be
[1:06:04] proactive if we did this project and
learn more. I think we can be proactive
[1:06:09] on trying to identify some other areas
that are private lands and see if other
[1:06:15] people are interested. This offer of
$800 an acre for a small project like
[1:06:19] this. I was really shocked because
that's what they normally pay for larger
[1:06:25] projects where the return on investment
is bigger. this one because the existing
[1:06:30] structure there. Yes.
>> Is that what you were offered per acre
[1:06:35] for yours?
>> I'm also offered 800 per acre. Um, but
[1:06:41] the return on investment in larger ones
is better, but this one can tag on to
[1:06:46] what's already there. So, they're able
to offer the $800 per acre there also.
[1:06:53] and both XL Energy and One Energy would
put it in both in separate conversations
[1:06:58] described it as a nice project. Um
>> Okay. But you haven't approached them
[1:07:03] about the county things because we
haven't discussed it as a county board
[1:07:08] yet.
>> You mean one energy?
[1:07:11] » Yeah.
>> No, from the zoning meeting back on
[1:07:14] February 17th, we invited Excel Energy.
So, we had a couple people from there.
[1:07:19] Outside of meetings, I worked with Excel
Energy and then connecting to One
[1:07:24] Energy. We have a proposal from them for
the $800 an acre using 15 acres.
[1:07:31] And in this committee,
[1:07:36] you know, the reason it's on this
agenda, you know, it's public property,
[1:07:40] but it would then go to executive
committee to work on the contract
[1:07:44] um for this term of agreements.
>> Okay. So, I have a question. So, zoning
[1:07:49] put together a package of stuff that had
to do with properties when this is the
[1:07:53] committee where the property stuff is.
>> I wrote the questions regarding the
[1:07:59] solar farm
for a zoning meeting in part because I
[1:08:05] was thinking about I got this packet
from the utility scale in December which
[1:08:12] got me thinking about all of the zoning
questions. There's a lot the PSC would
[1:08:16] do the permitting there. And so it got
me thinking about the county. We do not
[1:08:21] have any zoning regulations on solar
that I'm aware of for solar farms. The
[1:08:26] existing one or dock solar is in the
city limits. So they did the zoning on
[1:08:30] that. So it was partly so that we could
start thinking about questions related
[1:08:34] to zoning. You know, think setbacks from
roads, things like that. Is there going
[1:08:38] to be screening?
Um,
[1:08:42] now that we have a proposal, it's at
this committee.
[1:08:48] » Okay. So, you got a proposal that didn't
come through our committee.
[1:08:53] » I have a proposal from one energy by
working with Excel and one energy that I
[1:09:01] received on July 16th and forwarded it
to the administrator and board chair at
[1:09:06] that time.
So, there is a proposal in front of the
[1:09:10] county for a solar farm on the
>> We haven't put it out for an RFP.
[1:09:17] » I talked to Dan about the RFP.
Um,
[1:09:23] and one is the number is small enough
that we wouldn't need to do this. And
[1:09:28] two is One Energy and Excel have worked
together on the current solar farm. And
[1:09:33] this offer of 800 bucks an acre is a
really really strong offer.
[1:09:39] Another thing to keep in mind is with
interconnection agreements which would
[1:09:43] take up to 18 months to get to by the
time one energy is ready to say, "Yep,
[1:09:47] here's what we can put in. We've worked
through the zoning issues etc. We don't
[1:09:51] know nor would Excel Energy or One
Energy know if at the time they're ready
[1:09:57] to say, "Yep, we can put this in and
sign an agreement." We don't know if
[1:10:01] somebody else is working on something
where that available capacity to add
[1:10:06] solar is going to be taken up by
somebody else.
[1:10:12] » Have we held any hearings to see if
there is any public support for this?
[1:10:18] » I would argue that our comp plan says
there's public support for it, but I
[1:10:23] could be wrong on that.
>> We don't have the comprehensive plan
[1:10:28] together yet, do we? Well, we're working
on it, but you could look at the one
[1:10:32] from 2016, and it would seem that a lot
of the things from 2016
[1:10:37] would be consistent with supporting a
project like this.
[1:10:41] » Pretty much the 2016 was a state
template with our name put in there.
[1:10:50] Well, there's relatively few places that
you're going to put a solar farm, and
[1:10:55] there's lots more places you can put
most other things.
[1:11:00] But if I'm not mistaken, we're certainly
writing goals and objectives that would
[1:11:04] be consistent with a project like this
in terms of climate change, reducing our
[1:11:09] reliance on fossil fuels, being more
energy independent with battery storage
[1:11:13] a bit more resilient than otherwise. And
then the economic development piece with
[1:11:17] some local employment related to the
maintenance.
[1:11:26] Does anybody else have any questions for
Pat?
[1:11:39] Um,
I'm going to put a little piece in here
[1:11:43] because if you can already tell, I I
just this is the first I'm hearing about
[1:11:47] this.
Um,
[1:11:51] I don't know that we as a county have a
plan together for the properties that we
[1:11:57] own. And mostly the direction that our
solar has been taking place has been
[1:12:03] with buildings and properties that we
own like trying to not take up space
[1:12:08] that we could
use for other purposes. Say housing.
[1:12:16] Well, certainly you could put housing in
lots of places. A couple of years ago
[1:12:21] with buildings go away at the farm. I
was sure I was going to convert to solar
[1:12:25] out there. So, I spent a lot of time
looking at putting solar out there. And
[1:12:29] it turned out I didn't for a variety of
reasons. One of which it was far more
[1:12:33] expensive than made sense compared to
staying on Bayfield Electric. But the
[1:12:37] other another thing I learned along the
way, and this affects whether I'm
[1:12:42] willing to support these projects going
on buildings if tax dollars are used,
[1:12:47] these projects where you put solar on
the rooftop or a few panels next to a
[1:12:51] building, on average, they're about four
times the money per kilowatt or per
[1:12:57] megawatt than a solar farm. You just
have all this equipment. You need your
[1:13:02] inverter. You need all this other stuff.
Some people put in battery storage.
[1:13:07] They're just really expensive for what
you get out of it. About four times the
[1:13:11] money on average. And if I look at our
federal deficit, which probably most of
[1:13:16] you have heard, has hit 40 trillion
lately.
[1:13:19] I don't see the future as being putting
solar on, you know, just on the
[1:13:23] building. If you want to do it on your
own dime and house, that's one thing.
[1:13:27] You know, your own payback, you know,
which is going to be a long period of
[1:13:31] time. But I think the day of tax dollars
subsidizing solar on small projects, I
[1:13:37] think those days with our deficits and
politics, I think that's going to be
[1:13:42] really hard to come by. I think what
we're going to see more of are smaller
[1:13:46] solar farms, the 10 to 40 acres, 50
acres, 80 acres here and there because
[1:13:52] the return on investment is so much
better than the small stuff. And what it
[1:13:56] means is we just have to accept that
we're going to use some of our property
[1:14:00] for solar farms if we want that energy.
And solar and wind are the two most
[1:14:03] cost-effective forms of energy
generation.
[1:14:07] So, we're going to have to accept we're
going to have to have more of that if we
[1:14:11] want electricity, you know, that's
affordable.
[1:14:14] Um
>> well then maybe there needs to be some
[1:14:18] more research done with all the
properties that we own in the county to
[1:14:23] see which is the most optimal place to
do it.
[1:14:28] Well, if you start looking at where your
high voltage power lines are,
[1:14:32] um, you end up with a pretty short list.
[1:14:38] And then it's got to be able to connect
to the system,
[1:14:44] which means either a new substation, an
investment, or something existing that
[1:14:48] you can connect to, which there is at
Ordoc Solar.
[1:14:59] And I guess I would also say if the
countyy's owned this for about 10 years,
[1:15:05] you know, I know various things have
been kicked around, but you got to come
[1:15:09] up with the money,
not just our money, but somebody else's
[1:15:13] money. And then, you know, something
needs to be done. I know the mayor
[1:15:17] doesn't want lowincome housing out
there. Um, a few years ago out at Mason,
[1:15:24] one of the government agencies proposed
a low-income housing project and Mason
[1:15:28] almost entirely showed up to adamantly
say no. And so,
[1:15:35] you know, we need housing, but unless a
community says we'll take that, it's
[1:15:41] kind of hard to tell somebody that's the
housing you're going to get if the
[1:15:44] community is saying no. I know we could
put in low-income housing here. Um, even
[1:15:50] though the mayor doesn't want it, but we
should also think about if the community
[1:15:55] accepts it.
>> Well, we haven't had a hearing on that
[1:15:59] either.
[1:16:02] » Hey. Hey, Laura.
>> Yeah.
[1:16:05] » This is Gary. Hey, I just didn't want to
hang up and be rude, but I have to go to
[1:16:10] another meeting, so I'm hanging up at
the moment.
[1:16:13] » All right. We'll just call you hi, iPad
7. And
[1:16:17] » yes, and say see you later then.
>> Thank you, Laura.
[1:16:21] » All right.
>> Bye.
[1:16:24] » I guess one more comment is I've talked
to a board member at Bayfield Electric.
[1:16:30] Bayfield Electric is a distribution
co-op. They don't generate their own
[1:16:33] power. They buy their power from Dairine
Co-op, which is based out of Lacrosse
[1:16:37] and serves a lot of Western Wisconsin
and and up towards this area. But then
[1:16:42] there's a gap until you get to Bayfield
Electric.
[1:16:45] And the way that contract is with
Dairland Co-op, um Bayfield Electric
[1:16:52] isn't simp able to simply say, "Oh, we
want to put in some solar farms." Well,
[1:16:58] because Dairland Co-op says, "You're a
distribution co-op. We're not going to
[1:17:02] simply let you put in some solar farm."
Bad River is on Bayfield Electric. and
[1:17:07] what Bad Bad River is allowed to put in
for solar farm apparently is taking up
[1:17:12] most of the capacity that Dairland Co-op
is willing to give up. So a lot of our
[1:17:19] land around here unless you're on that
161 kilovolt line you're going to
[1:17:23] connect to Bayfield Electric which
Dairland Co-op is saying yes we need
[1:17:28] more power but thanks to but no thanks
for you guys generating it up there.
[1:17:34] You know, in the coming years, there's
got to be some conversations between
[1:17:36] Bayfield Electric and Dairland Co-op to
allow some solar farms up here that
[1:17:43] serve this area, but that's going to be
a very long conversation apparently
[1:17:47] because Dairland Co-op is figuring out
how they're going to generate new
[1:17:52] electricity and they would rather not
have the waters muddied on figuring out
[1:17:56] who's going to generate what where. They
just want to take care of that for the
[1:18:00] most part. So a lot of the rural area
here is on Bayfield electric which makes
[1:18:06] you know we happen to connect to Excel
here which limits the possibilities
[1:18:10] outside of the city of Ashland and a few
other places that are on Excel.
[1:18:21] » What is the committee thinking about
this? I I agree with what Pat's saying
[1:18:27] on being on the planning committee. This
is talked about a lot and I feel like
[1:18:36] there must be support of the community
when so many people talk about it. So I
[1:18:40] feel like we need to look into it and
not just kick the can down the road.
[1:18:45] Actually try to move it forward.
I don't know enough about solar to say
[1:18:52] too much on it. So, I guess it'd be nice
to hear on that.
[1:19:01] » Anybody else?
>> Paul here. Yeah, I'm in [clears throat]
[1:19:04] support of any revenue on land leases.
There's there's no risk with a land
[1:19:10] lease.
Well,
[1:19:13] » there is. If they build things on it,
it's a little hard to have them pick
[1:19:17] things up and move.
Jim, do you have anything?
[1:19:23] » Yeah, I kind of agree with the with
everything being said. I like the $800
[1:19:31] payment part of it there. That's
reasonably good money.
[1:19:39] Does anybody else want to see if there's
uh
[1:19:45] somebody's talking there? If there's a
better use that can be researched for
[1:19:51] this, I get that any income is nice, but
just having any income for any income.
[1:19:58] If the property value is higher than
that, we might be able to make more of
[1:20:03] that. Um, I don't know how long this is.
I
[1:20:10] I myself would like to see some kind of
research.
[1:20:13] » Laura, this is Erica Hannle. Could I say
something really quick? Sure.
[1:20:19] » Um, so I have invited Peter Levi of the
Nature Conservancy to come to the next
[1:20:25] finance meeting. I'm sure he's willing
to come to any meeting that we might
[1:20:29] want him. And that was for the purpose
of showing us their tool for evaluating
[1:20:38] properties for renewable energy
enterprises.
[1:20:43] Um, of course including solar. Um, so
that may be one part of the research
[1:20:49] that you might like to hear about. Um,
and secondarily,
[1:20:54] I was at the WEAN conference, what is
that? uh climate action network for
[1:21:00] Wisconsin
um several weeks ago and made several
[1:21:04] contacts where I'm sure that if if you
wanted more options for what we might
[1:21:11] include in an RFP
or expertise
[1:21:15] on the issue. I'm sure I can connect you
with a person that could offer that.
[1:21:23] » That would seem to make a lot of sense.
There's somebody that's thinking. I
[1:21:27] appreciate that. I also would think
that, you know, some input from Mary Joe
[1:21:33] on what putting solar on some land that
has wet land and such by it and how that
[1:21:40] affects us would be helpful.
Um,
[1:21:46] so everybody agrees we should move
forward with some more research.
[1:21:53] We need to make a motion.
>> Yeah,
[1:21:59] » I make a motion that we
move forward with looking into putting
[1:22:04] solar on the county's farm road
property.
[1:22:08] » Are we going to research a little bit
more first before we do this?
[1:22:14] » You can add in research and I guess yeah
to move it forward.
[1:22:21] » Will harm will second.
Okay, I have a motion and a second to
[1:22:29] move forward with some research and
looking at solar also. Um,
[1:22:36] any discussion
or anything else you guys would like to
[1:22:41] see in this process?
[1:22:48] you're talking. I can't hear you because
nobody's got their mics on, but
[1:22:52] probably not. Um, all right. All those
in favor, please signify by saying I.
[1:22:59] » I.
>> I.
[1:23:01] » I. Okay. Looks like we have a direction
to move forward and and look into this.
[1:23:08] Thank you guys. Um, is that Oh, that's
on the agenda.
[1:23:16] next meeting date. Usually we meet in
September, so we're kind of skipping
[1:23:22] over that, but um
we do in December have the jail tour and
[1:23:31] we'll have to have some updates on this
stuff. So, is everybody looking at your
[1:23:37] calendar
in December
[1:23:41] somewhere between
[1:23:47] Thanksgiving.
You're not too close to Christmas.
[1:23:57] The 7th maybe.
[1:24:04] Is there anything else on the other
calendar? I see you leaving through
[1:24:07] that. It's really tiny on my laptop
though.
[1:24:11] I don't see anything on the 7th.
[1:24:16] » Does that work for you guys too? Same
just a Monday at 2:00 p.m. again.
[1:24:25] » No conflicts will harm here.
>> Okay, that's one of us.
[1:24:31] » Good to hear.
>> Okay, what about you, Jim?
[1:24:36] » Yeah, let's go.
All right, let's go for it.
[1:24:41] Okay, PL
2 PM on the 7th.
[1:24:49] Last thing we have is if somebody wants
to do the motion to adjurnn.
[1:24:56] » Will harm motion to adjurnn.
>> Second.
[1:25:01] » Motion by Paul, second by Marcus.
Anybody want to discuss it?
[1:25:08] All right. All right. All those in
favor, please signify by saying I.
[1:25:12] » I.
>> I.
[1:25:14] » All right. Thank you guys. Good meeting.
Thank you for being patient with my tech
[1:25:18] problems.